Colony Laser
Despite its name it doesn't fire a laser but a powerful, wide particle beam. It isn't capable of shattering a world, nor would the Systems Alliance turn this weapon on a planet for any reason. Its simply used for defense. Currently there are four Colony Lasers. One is stationed in the Kadian Sphere, and one over the Balaurian's home world Balaur. History The First version of this weapon was called the Solar Ray, its collected solar energy and once it was at critical mass would fire it out as raw energy. It was used by a rebel faction long before the Systems Alliance was formed and fired only once. It was fired prematurely and although it did wipe out a entire fleet its burned itself out. The weapon was abandoned as the rebels couldn't put the resources into repairing and defending the now known weapon. Later it would be studied by the Old Federation after the 1st Space Rebellion. During the 2nd Space Rebellion the Old Federation had built an enhanced, more advanced version of the Solar Ray known as the Gryps Colony Laser. It would be used once during the 2nd Space Rebellion by a splinter group of the Old Federation that was attempting to seize control over everyone. This was short lived due to the CIS invasion into the Kadian star system. The invading CIS made sure to cut down as many leaders of the three factions at the time, they thought it would weaken the resolve of the remaining forces. It didn't. The remaining forces from all three factions force one force and used the Gryps Colony Laser to great affect against the CIS forces. It was fired three times during the invasion. The first time wiped out more then half of the invading force. The second was a well planned trick by he CIS, they suffered no losses and would then press an attack to destroy the Colony Laser and the fleet defending it. The combined fleets fought hard for over and hour keeping the Colony Laser from taking too much damage before it was ready to fire the third and final time. It destroyed 3/4th of what was left of the CIS fleet. The Gryps Colony Laser destroyed itself firing that last shot but it had saved the star system from CIS rule. Its wreak was turned into a memorial for those who lost there lives during the Invasion, and stands as a reminder of how close they came to losing. Currently there are two new "Production Type" Colony Lasers with a 3rd still under construction. The two operational Colony Lasers are the strongest ones yet in servce, using what they learned from the Gryps Colony Laser and reversed engineered and/or technology based on the CIS. The third one currently being built is said to have several modifications done to it using technology based off of the Empires ships they salvaged from the Balaur star system. These improvements will then be augmented into the two existing Colony lasers one at a time, ensuring that the Systems Alliance always has two in operation until all three are brought up to date. It isn't known if the Systems Alliance plans on building any more after these three. But with the Systems Alliance growing it may become necessary for more to be built to properly defend their star systems. Systems Power Systems While previous Colony Lasers relied mostly on the star for power these new ones mostly operate on internal fusion reactors, with the star only providing a secondary source. In addition ships could be link to it to provide even faster recharge time, but they renders the ships little more then extra reactors, leaving them defenseless. Targeting Pretty much point and shoot, though it does take a little math to ensure maximum destruction of a enemy fleet. Typically they would target the center of a fleet or the command ship. The entire Colony Laser must maneuver to point at its target, to fire. Firepower The weapons is designed for super long range fleet destruction. Meaning it fires a beam nearly twice as wide as its self and fills all of space in front of it with destruction. Star ships up to large frigates are/can be destroyed utterly, leaving burned out husks that only slightly resemble a ship. Cruiser and Destroyer sized ships may as well have been totally destroyed, the damage may be so great that they may fall prey to secondary explosions caused by their own systems. The bigger command ships may sustain heavy shield damage with some minor system damage, due to minor magnetic pulse from the blast. Hull may sustain over heating but no physical damage will be present, the ship may not want to take another shot. Recharging They need roughly 25 minutes to fully recharge, damage to the Colony Laser could extend the recharge time. These Colony Lasers do not have to be fully charged to fire, but doing so greatly reduces their range and over all fire power.